


Don't Let Go

by asofthesea



Series: whumptober 2019 [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Isolation, Mentioned Ben Parker, Peter Parker is a Mess, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Whump, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 09:35:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20946191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asofthesea/pseuds/asofthesea
Summary: Something was up with Peter. He was dodging Tony's calls and not showing up for lab time. Tony just needs to find out what's bothering Peter so he can fix it.Prompt: Isolation





	Don't Let Go

There was no doubt about it.

Peter was ignoring him.

The thought alone made Tony want to scoff. Peter loved spending time with him, why would the kid be ignoring him? As much as Tony didn’t get why, he knew he was the kid’s hero, he looked up to him.

They had been building a solid relationship. It had started out strictly as Tony mentoring Peter, but it had grown. They became closer, friends, even. Tony knew that he couldn’t fill the hole in Peter’s life, but he could help alleviate some of the pain.

He had taken Peter to a few baseball games, helped him with his homework, and made sure he did well in school. He cared about the kid, it didn’t have to mean they had to be anything different. They could continue on in the little-more-than mentor/mentee thing they had going on.

Tony didn’t understand why Peter was dodging his calls, making excuses to skip on lab time, and not calling him anymore. When he had first given the kid his phone number, he thought the thing would never stop ringing with how often the kid called. Eventually, Peter reeled it in, but he still called a few times a week. Tony hadn’t spoken to Peter in three weeks.

He racked his brain to see if he can remember doing or saying anything that upset Peter, but for the life of him, he can’t remember what he did. He thought that they were finally getting used to each other, that their relationship was finally something stable. He must have been mistaken because Peter has been avoiding him like the plague.

If the kid would just return his calls, he could try and figure out why Peter was avoiding him. He hadn’t wanted to do it, but it seemed as if he only had one other option.

The phone is ringing before he can talk himself out of it.

She picks up on the third ring, “Hello?”

“May, it’s Tony.”

“Yeah, I know that. I have your number saved in my phone.”

Tony doesn’t remember giving May his number, but he’s sure she made Peter give it to him in case of an emergency. He is thankful she doesn’t call as often as the other Parker, or, as often as he used to.

“Right, so I wanted to talk about Peter,” he decides to cut to the chase. They don’t really know each other well and Tony hates small talk. “He has been avoiding me, and I don’t know why.”

The other line is silent for a few long moments. Tony checks and she hasn’t hung up on him.

“Peter is ignoring _you?”_ she asks, skepticism clear in her tone.

“Avoiding,” Tony corrects, not that it makes a difference.

“He told me you are ignoring him when I asked why he hadn’t been over in a while.”

“You don’t believe me?” Tony asks.

“No, I’m just wondering why Peter would lie to me, I’m worried,” Tony’s worried, too, the kid hasn’t been acting like himself, “I’ll talk to him. I will make him come and see you, I’ll text you when, yeah?”

Tony wants to correct her and say that he’s a very busy billionaire, but there isn’t anything he wouldn’t cancel for Peter.

“Can’t wait.”

“Sir, Peter has arrived,” FRIDAY informs him.

Tony nods. He hates to admit it, but he’s nervous. He doesn’t want to confront the kid like this, but it still needs to be done. Peter has been avoiding him, even May admitted that, he needs to find out why.

“Hey, Mr. Stark,” Peter says as he comes into the lab. His voice sounds strained, like he is trying to stop whatever he’s feeling from coming through in his tone.

If Tony didn’t already know that something was wrong, he would now.

“How’ve you been, kid?” Tony asks, hoping that Peter will just open up to him on his own.

“Fine.”

No dice.

Tony always hated dancing around what’s on his mind, so he blurts out against his better judgment, “Why have you been avoiding me?”

Peter looks taken aback by the statement, clearly not expecting the blunt confrontation.

“I haven’t been avoiding you, I just had other things to do. I wanted to do those things instead,” he denies.

“I talked to May. I know that’s not true, tell me the truth, Peter,” Tony says, taking a few steps towards where Peter is standing at his desk.

“What do you want me to say?” Peter exclaims, and it is clear the kid feels backed into a corner, and for good reason.

“How about the truth?” Tony tries to keep his tone gentle. He doesn’t want to scare Peter away. He needs Peter to open up to him.

“It doesn’t matter, I told you, I don’t want to hang out with you anymore.”

“So you’re breaking up with me?” Tony jokes, attempting to lighten the mood.

“Not funny,” Peter shoots him a look, apparently it didn’t work.

Tony sighs and sits down on a stool across from where Peter is standing. The kid is tense, like he doesn’t want to have this conversation. Tony really doesn’t want to have it, either, but they need to. He just needs to figure out what’s wrong with the kid so he can fix it.

“Talk to me, please let me help,” Tony pleads.

Peter eyes him wearily. His eyes flash to the exit, before he looks back at Tony seems to come to some sort of decision. He sits down across from Tony and says, “What do you want to talk about?”

“Why have you been avoiding me?” Tony doesn’t want to dance around the subject.

“Right to it, then,” Peter says as he fiddles with his shirt sleeves, a nervous habit. Tony thought they had gotten past the point where Peter was nervous around him, but maybe they never would. Maybe there would always be a part of Peter that was anxious around Tony.

Peter begins to explain, “A month or so ago, it was Ben’s birthday.”

Tony inhales a sharp breath. He should have realized this was a Ben thing. He shouldn’t have pushed Peter. The kid was probably just still grieving. However, the look in the kid’s eyes tell him it’s something more, so he lets him continue.

“It brought up some memories of his death, for May and I. We both took it pretty hard. I kept dreaming of him dying in front of me. I had tried to bury those memories, but they resurfaced, I guess. It’s my fault that Ben’s dead, Mr. Stark, and my parents had to take a later flight because I got sick. If it wasn’t for me, they would all still be alive. I realized this, and I can’t be the reason you die, too, I won’t be.”

Peter thought that he was doing Tony a favor. He actually thought that he was somehow responsible for Ben’s and his parents’ deaths. Peter thought that by distancing himself from Tony, he could somehow prevent his death.

“That’s not true, kiddo,” Tony disputes, “None of their deaths are on your hands. It was not your fault. You didn’t know what was going to happen, you didn’t want it to happen, you couldn’t have stopped it.”

Peter shakes his head, “I could have stopped it. I was there with Ben, and I had my powers. I froze up and didn’t do anything, and it’s my fault.”

“You had no training, you didn’t know what to do. Your uncle would not have wanted you to get hurt to save him, I know it.”

Tears pool in Peter’s eyes, but none fall.

“It wasn’t your fault. Sometimes things happen, and they suck, but there is nothing we can do to stop them,” Tony says.

“I guess,” Peter says. Tony can see the understanding in Peter’s eyes. He gets it, the twisted way of fate.

Tony understands why Ben did what he did. He heard the story from May, about how Ben stood in front of Peter, guarding him from the gunman. He understands how easy the choice is between his own life and Peter’s.

He knows which choice he would make every single time.

**Author's Note:**

> I liked this one, wasn't sure how I was gonna write this prompt, but here it is!!!


End file.
